The heathen are come into thine inheritance - Thou didst cast them out, and take thy people in; they have cast us out, and now taken possession of the land that belongs to thee. They have defiled the temple, and reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins; and made a general slaughter of thy people.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A.M.

3416. B.C.

588. A Psalm. This Psalm is supposed, with much probability, to have been written on the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

The Attack on the Scriptures[Illustration: (drop cap B) A Greek Warrior] But troubled times came again to Jerusalem. The great empires of Babylon and Assyria had passed away for ever, exactly as the prophets of Israel had foretold; but new powers had arisen in the world, and the great nations fought together so constantly that all the smaller countries, and with them the Kingdom of Judah, changed hands very often. At last Alexander the Great managed to make himself master of all the countries of the then-known world. Alexander …Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The Formation of the Old Testament Canon[Sidenote: Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century before Christ] Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400 B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1) The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean, Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old Testament …Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Cross References

2 Kings 25:9 He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.

2 Kings 25:10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 36:17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

Psalm 74:2 Remember the nation you purchased long ago, the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed-- Mount Zion, where you dwelt.

Psalm 74:3 Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.

Psalm 74:7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.